This service is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, so in this context it is more correct to talk about it, and not TikTok, as a video surveillance application. According to the source, since the beginning of the year, the new publishing house has begun to invite authors of their own novels to collaborate. However, the terms are not very generous: in some places only a few thousand dollars for the rights to a book (advances can reach from $50,000 to millions at major publishing houses in the US). Although some places offer extensive online marketing services in addition to advances and royalties.

gold vein

TikTok has helped create some of the bestsellers in the market. One of the first such books was by Colin Hoover. His #ColleenHoover has been viewed more than 4.2 billion times and his books have been sold over 24 million times. Just 100 authors promoted through #BookTok have earned $760M for publishers and continue to rise.

How does it work?

• Book bloggers amass thousands and sometimes even millions of followers around them. They read this or that book, write their impressions about it and recommend it if they like it. Colleagues in the workshop react instantly. Several dozen similar videos appear after one video. Subscribers rush to stores and buy freshly baked bestsellers.
• The other side of this process is self-publishing. Authors who publish their works on the Internet are also included in such reviews. And if his books get good reviews from bloggers and then readers, publishers who scour the Internet in search of new Internet hits can offer the author a full-fledged publication.
• There is a negative side here. This or that book that wasn’t very successful can be artificially popularized through TikTok by paying a blogger for a fake positive review.

In general, we can say that today it is. the service is a powerful platform for the promotion of literature and publishers take full advantage of it. For example, Ukrainians have been posting quite a lot of Tiktok hits lately. ByteDance also realizes how much leverage it has and does not want to be left out.

ByteDance has been tight-lipped about its publishing plans, but it’s clear it has the potential to sell a large number of books. Even under increased regulatory scrutiny for fear it could be impacted by the Chinese government, ByteDance can reach a huge and growing audience. More than 150 million TikTok users in the United States alone are interested in books.

At the end of April, ByteDance registered a trademark. publishing house 8th Note Pressdefines it as a company that provides a wide range of book publishing products and services. According to the statement, it will create an ecosystem where people can find, buy, read, review and discuss books.

It is currently unclear whether the new publisher will have any restrictions on the types of literature published, when the first editions will come out, and whether their books will be sold in traditional bookstores. Well-known among romantic literature fans, Catherine Peltz is known to take part in the selection of future bestsellers.

Publishers are scared

It was natural for the first fears to arise about the opening of 8th Note Press. Most of the industry believes ByteDance is abusing its position. During hearings in the US Congress (regarding the ban) TikTok) The company has proven to have special tools to manually promote videos in users’ streams. It can literally make anyone see a particular video and remove another from suggestions.

Because of this, publishers fear that the company will promote their authors by silencing others. This will make the BookTok genre less organic and user-centric.